Flames’ Jokinen back with clear mission

CALGARY — For Olli Jokinen the turnaround in his game came about due to a change in his personal GPS.

No more east to west movement. Under orders from Calgary Flames head coach Brent Sutter, the Finnish centre shifted his on-ice compass last November to north and south.

“I told him, ‘Olli, this is the way I want you to be,’ ” said Sutter, recalling the informal summit that marked a turnaround for No. 13. “ ‘You’re going to play against the other team’s top players. I expect you to shut them down. I expect you to be more responsible defensively. I want you to be a straight line-guy.

“‘No more of the swooping and looping all over.’ ”

Jokinen arrived in Calgary in 2009 via trade from Phoenix. Finally, the Flames had secured the No. 1 centre to play with captain Jarome Iginla.

Only one problem: The chemistry between Iginla and Jokinen failed to materialize.

That botched experiment ended with a trade to the New York Rangers. But the Flames ended up bringing the six-foot-three, 210-pounder back for another round — this time at the reduced price tag of US$3-million.

He made US$5.35-million his first time around.

“I always thought Olli Jokinen would be a better player playing a different way,” Sutter said. “When he was first here, it was a situation where there was so much talk. ‘Can he be our No. 1 centreman? Can he be our No. 2 centreman? Can he fit with this guy? Can he fit with that guy?’

“There wasn’t a lot of fairness there to him.”

Fair or not, Sutter ran out of patience himself in November. So he called the former 91-point scorer in for a chat.

From that moment on, Jokinen had a new job as the centre on Calgary’s shutdown line. Depending on the night, he would face the likes of Jonathan Toews, Joe Thornton, and Henrik Sedin.

“I take pride in that,” Jokinen said. “It’s a very important role to play against other team’s top lines, but at the same time put up the numbers.”

In 79 games last season, Jokinen collected 17 goals and 54 points and finished the year at minus-17. Regardless, Sutter praised the 32-year-old for his improved attention to defensive detail during the second half of the season.

“We all want to be productive,” Jokinen said. “We all want to score and get points. Help the team that way. But the mindset is defence first and not to be minus by the end of the night.”

Jokinen played his best hockey last season on a line with Curtis Glencross and David Moss. That trio was busted up in March after Moss suffered a high ankle sprain.

The OMG (Olli, Moss, Glennie) line is back together again with a clear mission in mind.

“Our line’s job is to be plus-players this year,” Jokinen said. “Obviously, I was a minus player last year, but there’s nothing I can do about that anymore. I just have to look forward and try to do better in that department.”

To that end, Jokinen studies the likes of Pavel Datsyuk, Ryan Kesler and Henrik Zetterberg.

“They play a really good two-way game, and they’re still productive,” he said. “They still put up numbers. That’s the way I want to play as well.”